


so we can do a swear??

by nerdaf00



Series: Yours + Mine = Ours [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mentioned Han Jisung | Han, Mentioned Hwang Hyunjin, Mentioned Kim Dahyun, Mentioned Kim Seungmin, Mentioned Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Mentioned Seo Changbin, Mentioned Yang Jeongin | I.N, Platonic Dates, Single Parent Bang Chan, Single Parent Lee Minho | Lee Know, Single Parents, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29712771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdaf00/pseuds/nerdaf00
Summary: Minho and Chan get together to test if they're compatible... as friends! Compatible as friends! Nothing more... ahaha.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Series: Yours + Mine = Ours [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119446
Comments: 5
Kudos: 67





	so we can do a swear??

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again~
> 
> Single Parent Lee Minho | Lee Know is officially a tag now and I have never been more happy!! LETS GOOOOO

Minho isn’t nervous. He has no reason to be nervous, he’s just meeting somebody (attractive) who could become a new friend for lunch and adult time, nothing else.

Is this the first time he’s gone somewhere without the boys? No. Is this the first time in a very long while that he’s gone somewhere without the boys on a Saturday? Yes. Is this the first time he’s asked somebody new to watch the boys? Also yes.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust Dahyun. He trusts Dahyun to the moon and back, and at this point in their friendship she’s more like a sister than a friend. Minho just knows his kids, and how much trouble they can get into accidentally. 

But he can’t think about that right now. At the moment he has to focus on getting to the Korean-Japanese fusion restaurant he and Chan had agreed to meet at. Which should be coming up—aha, there’s the plaza it’s in. Minho parks in the first open spot he sees, hopping out of the car once he’s made sure he has everything he needs.

As Minho approaches the restaurant he sees a figure standing outside, who starts waving as he approaches. A part of him wonders how early Chan must’ve gotten here if he beat Minho, and he arrived at least five minutes early. 

“You haven’t been waiting long have you?” 

“No I just got here a few minutes ago,” Chan assures him.“I see we both had the same idea of being early.”

“It’s hard to get out of the early-is-on-time, on-time-is-late mindset,” Minho shrugs. “Especially when teaching college freshmen who are either ten minutes early or ten minutes late, with no in between.”

“You know I kinda wish some music artists had that same mindset, the early mindset at least.” Chan shakes his head ruefully. “Should we head in?”

Minho nods in agreement and grabs the door, holding it open for Chan to walk through. 

The place they’ve chosen is small, but Minho thinks it has a lot of character. There's advertisement posters on the wall and the chairs are all the same but different colors. It kinda reminds him of a fast food joint rather than an actual restaurant, and in some ways Minho feels kinda relieved. There isn’t the pressure that comes with a restaurant and figuring out who’s going to pay or how to split the bill. It’s nice.

They order separately, Chan going to choose a table after he places his order so they can sit and talk as they wait for their numbers to be called. Minho makes his way over to him after he’s handed his receipt and change, pocketing it until later. 

The way Chan smiles at him as he sits down has his stomach doing flips. Minho has always had a weak spot for dimples, something his kids use to their advantage all the time.

Chan looks at him in surprise, his own dimples still on display (Minho is well and truly fucked). “Oh? I’m guessing they tend to get away with more than they should then?”

Minho blinks a few times to reorient himself. He definitely didn’t mean to say that out loud, but oh well, at least they have a conversation going now. 

“Eh, kinda.” He pauses to think for a moment. “Jeongin and Changbin try really hard on their own to get away with things, but unless all three of them are pulling out the sunshine smiles then they still get in trouble.” 

“Huh.” Chan says. Minho feels his brow furrowed in confusion.

“What do you mean by huh?” He asks. He tilts his head to the side slightly so it doesn’t seem like he’s irritated.

“Oh! Nothing bad, I’m sorry if it sounded that way!” Chan waves his hands in front of him as if attempting to clear the air of any negative energy that may have amassed between them. “I was just thinking how different yet similar our kids are in their methods.”

Minho considers him for a moment. “How so?” 

Chan hums in thought before answering him. “Well, your boys use their - you called them sunshine smiles?” Minho gives him a nod. “Your boys use their sunshine smiles and dimples, whereas my boys have taken to using puppy dog eyes whenever there’s a bigger chance of me saying no to something.”

Minho’s heart melts a little bit at the thought of Felix’s puppy dog eyes. It’s probably even more devastating in real life. 

“Let me guess,” He can feel a smile start to overtake his lips before he’s even finished his question. “You cave every time, don’t you?”

Minho delights when Chan’s ears go pink as he attempts to respond, starting and restarting his sentences as Minho laughs softly. The only thing that saves him from more teasing is the cashier calling out first Chan’s order, and then his own a few moments later. 

Once they’ve sat down again Chan is slightly more prepared to explain himself. 

“It’s not that I can’t say no to them.” Minho’s sure his face must show his disbelief. “I can! I promise I can say no when the situation really calls for it.”

“As if I’m inclined to believe that after what happened the last time we made a promise.” Minho can’t help but to laugh as Chan loses all composure at his words, hands coming up to cover his face. Chan is laughing too, but it seems to be in embarrassment rather than amusement.

_ “No! Please, I’m sorry! _ ” Chan slipping into Korean doesn’t surprise him, but it does make Minho feel things that he doesn’t want to address at the moment. ”I’m sorry!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m sorry for laughing, it wasn’t on purpose! I was just caught off guard.” 

Minho attempts to seem serious for a moment as he considers Chan’s words (it probably doesn’t work though). “ _ Okay, I’ll let it slide for now _ . But I need to be convinced you can actually say no to your kids.”

Chan takes a moment to breathe before starting to speak. “Well, last week the boys wanted to have chicken tacos for dinner, and they had wanted to help make them. Obviously they can’t help cut vegetables, or handle raw chicken, so that was an easy no even with the puppy dog eyes. Oh! And then Felix wanted to make cookies one morning before school so that was another no. I think that might’ve been before Christmas actually.”

Minho hums in understanding. “They’re very enthusiastic about cooking for some reason.”

He takes a sip of his drink as Chan says, “It’s kinda crazy honestly. Felix says his favorite song is Cooking by the Book from Lazy Town.” and promptly chokes.

Minho feels bad for how Chan is kind of panicking now, but he waves his hands to show that he’s fine, even as he coughs up a lung. He attempts to take a few deep breaths as he calms down and after maybe a minute (though it felt like twenty) he feels fine.

“Not the Lil’ Jon remix right?” Chan’s eyes widen in horror at his question.

“Oh dear god, no. I’ve tried very hard to keep that version away from them, hopefully Lix won’t find out about it until he’s in middle school at least.”

Minho feels a smile creep onto his face. “Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that outcome.”

As they eat, they continue to talk between bites. Minho finds out that Chan’s birthday is only a few weeks before his, he loves sports and exercising (and is just a tiny little bit competitive because of it), and that he loves animals and has a certain soft spot for dogs. Chan even tells him about projects he has coming up that he’s excited to work on, and that he’ll create tracks for himself to get out of creative slumps. 

In turn Minho tells him about picking up boxing to relieve stress, about how the college he works at has him administer written tests despite teaching dance, and his love for cats. He talks about dance and how sharing dance with others has been something he’s wanted to do for the longest time. 

It’s only when they’re clearing the table that they finally reach a lull in conversation, more focused on throwing away garbage and grabbing their coats than speaking. 

So much time has passed and yet it feels as if no time has passed at all, and Minho doesn’t want to go home just yet. He usually has one thing specific that he enjoys doing when he has free time, and he wonders if Chan would like to join him. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, so he might as well go for it.

This time Chan is the one to get the door as they exit and Minho asks his question once they’re next to each other on the sidewalk. “Chan, how would you feel about spending a little bit more time away from your kids?”

“If I was with you I don’t think I’d mind. Besides, you haven’t told me if I pass the extended period of time test.” He says. “What were you thinking?”

Oh Chan has definitely passed that test, but Minho will tell him that later. “I like to take walks at the meadow on the rare free day, and, this may not seem like the best thing but uh, I swear up a storm at the far end of the trail.”

Minho doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of hearing Chan giggle. “Are you asking to go to the park so we can do a swear without worrying about who’s listening?”

“Exactly, I want to be able to say the,” Minho glances around him cautiously before leaning closer to Chan to whisper the next few words of his sentence. “The fuck word without fear of Changbin hearing.”

He leans back and shrugs after a moment of thinking. “Plus it’s a great cardio day, and walking is a quick and easy exercise.”

“That's true. I think that sounds like a great idea.” Chan says. 

Minho feels almost as excited as the boys when he says they’re going to the park. “Great! I’ll meet you there?”

Chan nods, digging his hands into his coat pockets for what Minho assumes is his keys. “Yeah, that sounds good, the parking lot over by the tavern, right?”

“Right, see you in a few then.” Minho turns so fast that he almost misses the wave Chan gives him in return. Oops.

\----- 

It's a surprisingly nice day for late February, and Minho has the oddest feeling that the universe might be trying to tell him something. The sun peaked out from behind the clouds when they were halfway done with lunch and hasn’t gone away since then.

He and Chan have been walking for about ten minutes now, and they’re almost to the spot that Minho thinks is perfect for shouting. He taps Chan on the shoulder and points to a tree that’s just slightly closer to the path than any of the others.

“Right there is the perfect spot.” Chan looks at him dubiously. “For real! It’s far enough from any other path that nobody can see us... even if they do end up hearing us. But I doubt anyone else is at the park right now.”

“Okay, you seem to be the expert.” Chan gestures him forward. 

They walk the last few feet forward together, and Minho glances at Chan’s face before turning to face the center of the field. He takes a deep breath in.

“ **FUCK** !!” He let’s the word burst out of him like a cannonball, releasing some of the stress that was built up along with it. Chan loses it beside him, laughing at Minho’s intensity, but he can’t bring himself to care right now. There are words locked up in his chest that are clawing their way free, and he can’t do anything but finally release them.

“Shit, bitch!” He hears Chan finish the lyrics to that one song, and it brings a smile to his face, but he doesn’t stop shouting. “Holy fucking, motherfucker, no you don’t get an extension on the exam!! It’s fucking take-home, you’ve had access to it for a month, are you shitting me?!? You smooth-brained harlot!! Do you eat the buttons off the remote?”

Minho pauses to breathe for a second before remembering something else that made him angry. “BITCH TITS MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU ASSHOLES KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? Over mixed asshole smoothie of a human being! It’s a no pass zone cock-sniffer, if you have somewhere to be so bad that you’re speeding in a school zone, maybe you should’ve taken a different route, you used condom son of a bitch! ARGH!”

Minho gives the air a kick as he lets out another shout. His chest is heaving, and he feels as if he just went through an entire routine instead of just shouting about things that have made him irritated over the past few months. 

Chan is still laughing, and when Minho turns around he sees that Chans no longer standing. Instead he’s kneeled over on the ground, clutching his stomach as he tries to calm down. Looking at him, Minho starts laughing as well, feeling lighter than he has in a while. 

When he finally catches his breath, Minho pokes Chan on the shoulder. “Come on, your turn.”

“Okay, okay.” Chan pulls himself together and gets to his feet, breathing deeply in preparation. Minho can barely contain his excitement at the thought of Chan just letting loose- 

“FRICK!”

Oh no. Minho tries not to laugh at Chan’s failed first attempt, especially because it seems like Chan wasn’t expecting that word to come out. 

“Hang on, let’s try that again.” Minho motions for him to go ahead, keeping his fingers crossed. Chan breathes in, and “Sh—SUGAR!! Wait, no, that’s not the word I wanted.”

Minho’s trying so hard to keep quiet, but Chan’s movements nearly break him. He’s so cute when he’s flustered. He watches as Chan squeezes his eyes shut and presses his hands over his ears, as if that’ll help somehow. 

“Funk, drat, geez, coconuts, darn, fudge, tushy, sugar-honey-iced-tea, crikey!” Chan’s trying so hard, but none of his words are explicit, and after ‘crikey’ Minho can’t hold back anymore. 

Chan keeps going even as Minho collapses to the ground from the force of his laughter, only stopping with a frustrated scream.

“I can’t do it! I think I’ve conditioned myself into not swearing somehow.” Chan sounds disheartened, and Minho kind of wants to wrap him up in a blanket and give him hot chocolate like he would with one of the boys.

“That’s okay, this just means we have to hang out more often so that you can practice.” Minho stands as he says this, dusting off his hands so he can pat Chan on the shoulder comfortingly. Chan smiles again after he says this, and Minho tries not to let the stutter of his heart affect him that much.

“Does this mean I’ve passed the test?” Chan’s tone is slightly teasing, as if he already knows the answer. Minho can tell he means it sincerely though, that deep inside he’s nervous he may be wrong. 

“Yes, you passed.” Minho says, and Chan does the cutest little victory dance. Before either of them can say anything else though, Chan’s phone rings.

Chan checks the number and looks back to Minho apologetically. “I gotta take this, I’m sorry. It’s the babysitter.” 

Minho should probably check on his own kids now that he thinks about it. “It’s fine, I should probably check on my boys too.”

Chan nods quickly, answering the call in the next second. Minho pulls out his own phone and sees quite a few missed texts from Dahyun.

_ 12:37 _  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** Hiii~  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** Everything is going fine so far! Enjoy your lunch ;D

_ 1:30 _  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** Boys had a great lunch! Gonna clean up and try to get them to nap

_ 1:41 _  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** Okay so we may have had a spill while cleaning up lunch, but it’s okay now  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** Clothes are in the wash and uh… so are Lew, Bruce (or is the orange fox bob jr???) and Ziggy  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** But!! Everything is fine! We’re waiting for the washer to finish and then the dryer and then all will be right with the world :D

_ 3:04 _  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** So… everything may not be fine  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** I think we missed the window for nap time, because they. Aren’t. Sleeping.   
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** We read books, I put on relaxing music, shut the blinds so that it was nice and dark in their room, but nothing’s working ;-;  
**Da-Da-Dahyun:** I’m gonna let them color, hopefully they pass out while doing it

Oh no. Missing nap time was quite possibly Minho’s worst nightmare, and now with it being almost three-thirty there was no way the boys were going to sleep at this point. Jisung takes hour-long naps daily, and Jeongin joined him more often than not even though his daycare did naptime after lunch (on the weekends it was a different story though). Even Changbin didn’t protest when Minho suggested he lie down for some quiet time during the weekends.

Hopefully, he could get them to eat an early-ish dinner so that they could start their Saturday bedtime routine earlier than usual. Looking up he saw Chan still on the phone, which gives him more time to think up a plan for this evening. 

If he starts cooking when he gets home, they could eat dinner around five, then watch a quick movie- or wait no, maybe they could watch a short documentary tonight instead. That’d probably work better than watching a full movie, and maybe they’ll fall asleep to the sound of David Attenborough’s voice.

Minho’s startled out of his thoughts when Chan comes back over to him with a sheepish look on his face. 

“I don’t think we’ll be able to get to start swearing lessons today, unfortunately.” They start walking as Chan speaks. “My neighbor’s teen wanted to test their babysitting skills so I hired them to watch the boys this afternoon. Everything was fine earlier, but there's been a finger-painting mishap and now emotions are running wild so I have to get home.”

Chan brings a hand up to fiddle with his earlobe. “I really hope I haven’t ruined babysitting for this poor kid.”

Minho pats him on the back in a way that he thinks is comforting, but he’s trying not to laugh at the same time, so he doesn’t know how well it works.

“I’m sure they’ll be glad for the experience eventually.” Minho barks out a laugh before continuing. “Best case scenario they just won’t want to babysit for  _ you _ again.”

That gets Chan to laugh at least. “That’s true! I should’ve asked my friends to babysit, they’re only allowed to say no every once in a while.”

“Exactly, they have an obligation to watch your kids because they don’t have any.” Minho nods as if this is the wisest thing he’s ever said. “That’s what I did today, and honestly, at this rate I don’t think she’ll ever want kids after what the boys are putting her through.”

“She’s valid in that of course, but oh no.”

“Yeah… very much oh no.” Minho sees his car in the distance, and while he’s not necessarily ready to go home to chaos, he does miss the boys and can’t wait to hear about their afternoon.

The two of them are silent the rest of the way to the parking lot, and it’s only when they have to separate that Chan speaks up. “This was a lot of fun, we should do it again at some point.”

“Definitely, it was nice to just be Minho for a little bit, you know?” It’s as he’s saying this that Minho gets an idea. “Would you want to have a playdate for the boys?”

Chan’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I think that’d be great! I’ll text you about details and stuff later?”

Minho nods. “That sounds good to me, good luck with the fingerpaint debacle.”

“Thanks, I’m also wishing you luck with whatever chaos your boys have caused.” Minho says his thanks as well, waving as Chan heads off to his own vehicle. 

Minho pauses after starting the car, thinking about how today seemed to have been the starting point of something. He doesn’t know what yet, and he doesn’t have much time to think about it because he has a feeling Dahyun might just be losing her mind, but he’ll figure it out eventually.

And he has a feeling Chan might be there to figure it out with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed!!!
> 
> The scene where Minho swears up a storm has been sitting for So Long and I'm so happy it's finally here! 
> 
> More is def coming soon, so stay tuned <3


End file.
